There were long lines of young men outside the Turkish Consulate in Rotterdam last week, their pockets full of euros. The Turkish government announced that the payment required to avoid military service for Turks living abroad will soon increase from 5000 to €10,000.

In Turkey the military is an important part of society. The military leaders oversee the separation between mosque and state, although this is changing in the Erdoğan era. In the past they did not hesitate to violently intervene. Furthermore, the presence of the army in the south east is very visible. Due to nationalist sentiments and the ever present fear that Turkey is falling apart, it is important that, as ‘a good Turk’,  you show your patriotism by fulfilling your military service. The Turkish army is not only important nationally, but also internationally. In terms of volume only the U.S. is larger as a NATO partner.

In recent years the U.S. military has directly or indirectly been the subject numerous books: 2nd Tour, Hope I Do not Die by Peter van Agtmael, Infidel by Tim Hetherington, Iraq Perspectives by Benjamin Lowy. These books show the battlefield but also give an insight into what it is like to be in the US military. The second largest NATO army is a lot harder to access for a photographer. Do they have more to hide or less? In spring 2011, the small but notable book, KD 289, by Selim Süme was published. Süme secretly shot black and white photos when he was in Erzurum, a city of over 300,000 inhabitants in eastern Turkey, while he was fulfilling his national service. In addition he kept a diary for the first time in his life. And it reveals one full of boredom. No iconic images of soldiers in action, but young men reclining on office chairs, smoking in bed, wrestling with each other to pass the time and perhaps also to forget the absence of women.

The photographers’ collective, REC Collective [link: www.reccollective.org], which Melisa Önel, Sevim Sancaktar and Serkan Taycan are also part of, decided to publish KD 289. The title refers to the Selim’s military identification number. The book is very sober and its covert approach is emphasized by the snapshot-like character of the pictures; men with heads cropped off and strange angles from which the pictures are taken. It produces a book which is close to the skin of the men out in the winter barracks of remote Erzurum (this is expressed well in the book’s cover pages). But mostly it’s an understated political book about how it feels to fulfill military service.

All images: 289 KD © Selim Süme

This blog was posted on www.foam.org

30/12/2011